Dearly Beloved
by SmileyNikki
Summary: …Young man accused of the brutal murder of 17 year old Susannah Simon…
1. Prophecies

**Title**: Dearly Beloved

**Summary**: …Young man accused of the brutal murder of 17 year old Susannah Simon…

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing but my own ideas. Everything else is God :cough: I mean Meg. Please don't sue me, I have no money, I'm a musician.

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**Chapter One**: Prophecies

I hate math. I hate math. I freaking despise math…

4. _Triangle ABC is equilateral. What is the degree measure of angle y ?_

Hmmm…how about we skip that one…

5._ If a sack of dried dog food feeds 4 dogs or 5 puppies for one week, then 5 sacks of the food will feed 15 puppies and how many dogs ?_

Well assuming that the stupid mutts eat every day…

I mean really, what if one day you decided not to feed them?

Would the number of bags change every week?

Or what if you killed off two puppies and, whoops, now you only have three?

Wouldn't that change the number of bags?

Now don't get me wrong, I like dogs. And puppies are so cute! It's just that these questions are so incredibly pointless…

Ha, I could just hear him. '_Now Susannah, you should get a jump start on these things…Besides, it will make the time you spend with Jesse much more…productive_."

Seriously, that's what Father D said to me. Like I don't make the time I spend with Jesse productive. I mean we kiss, talk, watch movies, kiss (okay, so we like to kiss. Sue me. Actually please don't. I'm poor.) And now we study.

Thanks, Father D. Thanks a lot.

I looked up at the young man that Father D had just proclaimed as my tutor.

That's right you heard me. Man. Not ghost, because Jesse de Silva was no longer a ghost. His wonderful heart started beating again right before my winter formal.

I know what you're thinking, because I thought the same thing. Just in time.

I got the chance to show off the love of my life at the winter formal. How awesome is that…For once, God was on my side. And what do you know…Madame Zara was 100 right. One, about my "God-given gift" as Father D likes to call it. And two…

Well, about having one love that will withstand time.

I guess I should explain…

Hi! I'm Susannah Simon. Seventeen years old, currently a junior at Junipero Serra Mission Academy. I have three stepbrothers, Sleepy, Dopey, and Doc.

Really being Jake, Brad, and, my favorite, David.

Some time after my dad died, Andy, my stepfather, and my mom met in New York (where I used to live), fell in love, got married, and moved me to this little city of Carmel, California.

That's when I met Jesse. Ghost Jesse. Oh yea, that's right. My 'God-given gift.' You see I can communicate with the dead.

Communicate as in interact with: see, hear, talk to, touch, and even smell. In other words, choice f; all of the above.

Yea. Touch. Meaning, if necessary, I can kick the butt of a troublesome soul.

This apparently makes me a Mediator. Or Shifter, which Paul prefers. But we're not going to go there just yet.

Anyway, so I move here, and I find Ghost Jesse in my new bedroom. Boy let me tell you we definitely did not hit it off too well. But then he saved my life.

We've been through so much together…

And in a few months, I found myself falling in love with him.

Yes. Mediators can also fall in love with ghosts. Though it's not something that I recommend.

Yet, I digress. Over the summer I found out that he had feelings for me too. Then in the beginning of my junior year I found out that he loved me.

Then Paul had to go and try to ruin it all. And he almost succeeded in tearing Jesse and I apart forever, when suddenly it all went wrong.

I screwed up.

I brought Jesse back with me.

And that's when he almost left me for good.

That's when God, if there really is one, finally really helped me. Jesse came back to life.

Just in time for the Winter Formal…but I said that already. No need for me to get all redundant…

And now here we are. Studying for the SATs together. The most gorgeous guy in the world was sitting five feet away from me and all he wanted to do was explain postulates and theorems to me.

Thanks again to Father Dominic…Well, Father D and Jesse's 19th century manners.

Oh, that's right, I'm not being redundant.

And those manners I mentioned? Yea, they certainly don't stop him from kissing me. And when things get heated…They don't stop him from feeling me up.

Okay…whenever that happens he always pulls away and starts apologizing frantically, babbling about how he doesn't want to take advantage of me, and how he was being incredibly 'ungentlemanly.'

Guess that's the only downside of dating a 19th century guy. I couldn't make him understand that I _want_ him to take advantage of me.

But I can look past that part…

…For the time being…

Juuuust kidding!

I blinked. Jesse was staring at me with a crooked smile on his handsome face; his scarred eyebrow rose questioningly. 'Susannah…? Is something the matter?' He quickly shot a glance over his shoulder. Please, as if I would be staring at anything else…'You have been staring in this direction for quite some time.'

I blinked again and let my emerald eyes focus on him. He knew that I had been staring at him. The laughter in his eyes proved that much.

As if the laughter from his mouth didn't…

I brightened up. 'I'm just fine thank you very much. And stop laughing at me!'

Jesse stood up from the window seat. 'But _querida_, you are so cute when you're mad…'

'Shut up.' I stuck my tongue out at him. Yes. I am 17 years old. And I just stuck my tongue out at my boyfriend.

I know. I'm so mature.

'Very mature, Susannah,' Jesse teased lightly as he sat on the edge of my bed. Yea, that's me and my Jesse. Always on the same page… 'If you needed help with a problem you could have just asked. You did not need to stare at me for 20 minutes hoping that I would notice you.'

Once more, the perils of dating a 19th century guy become all too evident. Oops, more redundancy. I really have to cut that out. 'I do not need your help.'

'Okay then. Show me what you have accomplished so far, _querida_.' Jesse snatched up my notebook before I had a chance to hide it.

Damn you Father Dominic. This is entirely your fault.

Okay. Maybe that was a little sacrilegious…

Stupid Father D.

Alright, fine! Silly Father D. Happy? Jeez.

I am so going to hell.

Here it comes…

Jesse sighed, 'Come now, Susannah. This is the rest of your life. You need to study and do well on this test in order to go to college.'

I had to think quickly. There wasn't much time…

'Your notebook should not be blank after 2 hours of prac-'

'Oh come on, I was doing them in my head. These things are so easy. I could do them in my sleep.' It was so hard to lie to those big, coco eyes, but it was even worse having them disappointed in you. 'Besides,'

The only problem with lying to Jesse is that he can always tell. No matter what. So I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. '…it's a sin to exaggerate!'

Jesse gave me one of his "looks". You know the ones. 'And when exactly, _querida_, did I exaggerate?'

'I was not staring at you for 20 minutes! Try more like…5!' Well, maybe 10…

Liar.

Jesse rolled his eyes; a habit that he had picked up from me, 'Perhaps, Susannah. But the fact remains; it is also a sin to lie to your teacher, no matter how much he may love you.'

'Fine. So we're both going to hell then.'

'Fine.'

……………Grrr

'…I love you too.'

Stupid, Stupid Jesse. Stupid gorgeous, irresistible Jesse. I let my gaze travel to his mesmerizing eyes. I felt myself getting lost in that gaze the second our eyes locked.

For a moment that seemed to last forever, we gazed at each other. His eyes seemed to dance to music that I could almost hear.

That's the thing…"almost". To Jesse, my eyes are open books. One glance at them and he could read my entire soul.

But me? Jesse's eyes seemed impossible to read. They were these dark, liquid pools of brown that captured me in their gaze and entranced me. But I could never see what he was thinking or feeling.

Softly, Jesse reached out a shaking hand and cupped my cheek, his thumb gently tracing small circular patterns on my skin. He looked extremely…

Distressed.

…Oh jeez. I'm using Jesse lingo. Anyways!

I just wish I could read those eyes…

A moment passed. Another.

Then as quickly as it had come…it was gone. Jesse pulled away and laughed nervously. 'I'm sorry _querida_, you are right. It was rude of me to imply that you are a liar. I'm sure that it is much easier for you to do these problems than it is for me…'

My eyes went wide and I stole a look at the work that was sitting on my window seat. My mouth fell open in shock.

Jesse had finished the first SAT workbook and had already moved onto the second. I saw his neat, nearly perfect handwriting abruptly stopped on what looked to be a complicated trig problem.

I looked back at him. He was staring at the floor, still talking, 'I mean after all, you have been going to school almost your whole life. I'm sure that teachers taught you how to do these things in your head. It was completely out of line for me to say such a thing Susannah and I hope that you will--'

Okay. Jesse is babbling. And what's worse is that it's painfully obvious that he knew what he was saying was nowhere near the truth. Something is definitely wrong…

'Jesse!' I grabbed his hands and in shock he lifted his gaze to my eyes, 'Who are you kidding? I can't do this junk in my head. It's just that sitting here doing them is so boring.' I don't know what made me confess. If it were anybody else I'd be all like, "damn straight, and don't you forget it. Look here everybody, Suze Simon the genius mediator!"

Well…not really. But I'm sure that you get my point.

But Jesse isn't "anybody else." He's different. And at the moment he looked upset. 'But it's okay. We can keep doing it! I don't mind. I'll try harder, I promise.'

To make Jesse happy, I'd do anything. Sappy, I know, but true.

I really didn't want to keep doing it, but if he wanted to keep going then I should at least _try_, right?

Guess Jesse had a better idea. Ever see a hyper active five year-old on Halloween? Yea, that's what happened to Jesse in a matter of two seconds. Totally out of nowhere. I saw him cast a glance at my clock as he smiled. 'Your family is going to be home soon, right? Come, let's go out. You should dress more warmly, I will wait for you downstairs…'

Before I had a chance to respond, Jesse pulled me into his arms and kissed me softly but urgently, almost as if my lips were the only thing that was keeping him on this earth. It was certainly a surprise. Being kissed like I was the only thing that mattered to him.

Shock. Shock.

When he broke the kiss we were both breathing kinda hard. But I guess that that was understandable. That was one heck of a kiss…'I'll meet you downstairs…' He tenderly pushed a few strands of my hair behind my ear. My breath caught. It felt like he didn't ever want to let go of me; like it was painful to end the moment.

Okay. Something is definitely up.

'Sure.' Great. I squeaked. Very sexy Simon. Even in the midst of problems, he somehow still manages to have this effect on me.

As Jesse walked out of my room I turned to my closet. Something warm…I quickly traded my baby tee for a soft, black, off the shoulder sweater. I also traded my bra in for a strapless one. I found a comfortable pair of Mudd jeans that had some rips in the knees. But they were cute and hugged my figure so I figured that they would do.

I saw my Jimmy Choos sitting in the back of my closet and laughed. I've broken them in since then, so they don't blister my feet anymore, thank god. That wasn't a pleasant memory. Except the whole, "At last I have you where I want you…" bit.

I decided on a pair of white Nike sneakers. Not stylish, I know, but comfortable. I mean, I have no idea where Jesse wanted to go, so I might as well be comfortable.

As I changed I thought about what could possibly be the matter with Jesse. He had been babbling. Either he spends way too much time with me or something is seriously wrong…

Oh.

My.

God.

What if he and Father Dom are plotting something behind my back again! And Jesse is just feeling guilty about not being able to tell me!

What if he is spending so much time with me that now he wants to break up with me because he realizes how many of my stupid, annoying habits he has started doing!

Gasp! What if he and Father D are waiting for the perfect opportunity to get me on my back?

… … …

Ewwww!

Get me defenseless. Definitely less…eww…

But if he wanted to break up with me then why would he be sad…And shaking? I mean…come on.

Whoa…Back up Suze. Jesse was shaking. Something _must_ be wrong.

I slipped into my bubble jacket and headed toward the stairs. I could swear that there was something else in his gaze besides sadness. Something familiar…something I should have remembered. But for some reason I couldn't place my finger on it.

As I saw Jesse pacing back and forth running a hand through his thick hair, it hit me like a ton of bricks, only a lot less painful…

Fear.

Jesse is afraid of something.

That scared me. A lot. Fear is not an emotion that Jesse feels often. Actually I've only seen him afraid once before…

I saw Jesse turn around to retread the same five feet that he had been pacing in, but when he saw me standing halfway down the stairs he abruptly stopped. '_Querida_,' He breathed, 'you look beautiful.'

I looked down at my ordinary ensemble. Sure I looked pretty…but it was nothing spectacular. It wasn't like I was trying to elicit a "You're the most beautiful woman…" bla bla bla kind of reaction.

Okay Suze. Let's shut up now; stop reading into every word that comes out of the poor boy's mouth.

Omigod, I'm blushing! I could see it in all of the pictures that Andy and my mom had hung up on the wall. I tried to give a normal smile. 'Thanks…'

Why? Why do I have to squeak? You'd think that by now I'd be over that phase of the relationship, but no. Once again, the greater being(s) are laughing at me.

Jesse smiled and shot another quick look at a nearby clock, 4:45. 'Lets hurry, I do not want to miss it…'

'Miss what?' I inquired.

'You'll see, _mi querida_.' He shot a little grin at me and motioned for me to follow as he walked out of my house. 'Quickly now, we do not want to be late.'

'Late for what?' I was getting really curious, but, of course, Jesse was too stubborn to give in.

Ohhh. A mysterious Jesse. How…

Enticing.

Down girls. I'm kidding. Jesse wouldn't plan anything like that…

Would he?

Suddenly, I really wanted to know what was going on...So much, in fact, that I was practically pushing him out of the house.

I know, I know. Very feminine…

We briefly stopped by Jesse's car to pick up something very large that he wouldn't let me see.

Now that I'm thinking about it…it looked like a bag.

What the hell?

A bag with what?

OHMIGOD. What if it was a bag full of condoms? Oh come on Suze…think realistically. No one could last THAT long.

Right…?

Well…it had been 150 years since…naaahhhhh.

'Susannah?...Wanna hammer?' (A/N: I'm sorry, that's all Lolly, it was just so funny that I couldn't resist… Sniff My Butt: F L A S H L I G H T chapter 7.)

Again with the squeaking, 'WHAT?…!' (See…that was barely audible…) Omigod, it's really going to happen!

OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD. The world is c l o s i n g i n…..

'JessethisisallsosuddenImeanit'sreallycoldouthereandreallyImeanthinkofalltherepercussions!Butwait,IdontwantyoutothinkthatIdon'twanttocausethatstotallynotthecase!'

Jesse doubled over in laughter. Gee…I hadn't realized that I'd said anything funny, but, whatever.

'Susannah,' He came up gasping for air, 'I've told you before, you have to breathe once in a while between words. Otherwise, you say everything much too quickly for me to understand. In answer to your first question, I asked, "what's the matter," and as for the rest you'll have to repeat yourself…'

Well this brought back interesting memories! I noticed that his voice was still a little hoarse at the same time I noticed that I was blushing. 'I said absolutely nothing.'

Apparently, my mini freak-out had caused us to stop walking. Jesse had his scarred eye-brow raised oh-so-adorably.

'Nothing, honest. Just vastly curious as to the contents of the bag.' I dazzled him with an enormous 100 watt smile.

Jesse nodded distractedly as he continued walking, motioning for me to follow. 'You'll see.'

Again with the, "you'll see." WHEN!

WHEN WILL I SEE?

Can you tell that I'm a girl of very little patience…?

'Just a little farther now.' With all the talk and…thoughts… I hardly noticed how far we had walked in so little time. By my cell phone's clock it was still only 4:52, but here we were just a hop, skip, and a jump from the beach.

Awwww…I love the beach. Especially at sunset. It's so…

Beauti----OOOOHHHH…!

Wow…I'm an idiot…

We slowly entered the grounds of the beach. Jesse led the way to a small patch of sand where he dropped his bag and smiled, 'This will do. Yes, this will do nicely.' Seemingly from nowhere, Jesse pulled out an extremely soft blanket that seemed to stretch for miles.

Aha. The thing in the bag.

I was speechless. Everything was so…

Perfect.

As we sat down on the blanket, I curled up in Jesse's arms. We laid there for what seemed like hours gazing into the deep red and yellow colors of the sunset.

I swear that I only blinked for a second. 'Wow, that's impressive. I've never seen it get so dark so quickly. Bet CeeCee would have a field day with this…'

Once the sun fell below the horizon, the sky turned an eerie shade of dark blue, as if it was already midnight. I got the strangest feeling. For being so dark it was awfully bright. I tried to find the moon but couldn't. But the stars…boy did the stars ever catch my attention.

I practically jumped out of Jesse's arms, 'Whoa, check that out!' I'd never seen so many stars, but three in particular just seemed to jump out at me, 'Look at those, Jesse,' I said, beginning an impromptu stargazing session.

Three bright red stars gave the illusion of being wreathed in flames. 'Isn't that beautiful? I've never seen anything like that before.'

Time just seemed to stop, suddenly. Where before I could hear Jesse's heart beating softly in his chest and the waves crashing on the shore, now I couldn't hear anything.

It was so quiet…

'Jesse?' I tore my gaze away from the dazzling night sky and looked at him worriedly. At some point he had stood up to gaze at the sky in shock. 'You okay?'

No answer. Well that was unusual. I pulled my jacket tight around my body. 'Haha, Jesse, very funny. Joke's over now though. You _can_ respond.' I knew I was whispering, but it sounded like I was shouting. That's how…

Silent it was.

'Susannah,' Jesse seemed shaken, 'You can see them?'

'See what?' I snapped, 'The stars? Of course I can. I wasn't blind the last time I checked…' My temper seemed to flare from out of nowhere. It was so sudden that it even shocked me.

I hate feeling left out…And that's the feeling I had. Like I was missing something important and no one wanted to fill me in.

I was afraid…

I hate feeling afraid because I feel helpless.

So I began turning that fear into something that didn't make me feel so vulnerable.

Anger.

Yet as angry as I was, something happened in that single moment that shook my own little reality right off its hinges…

Hector De Silva, my Jesse, broke down and started to cry.

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A/N: This is my first fanfic ever…

So, review? Please?

Nikki


	2. Nightmares

**THANKS TO ALL THE REVIEWERS! **Comments and response are below!

**Disclaimer**: Obviously, I still don't own anything…

/_Flashback/_

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**Chapter 2:** Nightmares

I've never noticed all the little interesting grooves on my ceiling. There were so many…Little swirls, dots and whatnot. It's funny when you think about it…I mean, why would anyone build a rough ceiling? It makes it so much harder to paint…

Don't ask me why I was analyzing my bedroom ceiling. I guess it's because when ever I tried to think about somethingelse _anything_ else…I thought about the one thing that I didn't want to think about any more. It just wouldn't go away.

So here I was forcing myself to focus on my stupid, plain ceiling. How freakin' pathetic. I had hit rock bottom.

Wow Suze Simon, congratulations, you've finally managed to hit an all time low. Running away from your own mind; now _that's_ lame.

The insanely loud beeping of my alarm clock made me jump. 5:45 flashed into my face.

Shooting my hand out I turned it off as I closed my eyes and somehow managed to sink deeper into my pillows. I swear the reaction was instantaneous. The second my eye lashes hit my cheeks the memories came rushing through my mind. It was like some mini version of the old sadistic Paul was in my head hitting replay in slow motion over and over again.

And the madness would Not STOP.

/_Anger quickly faded into fear as I fell to my knees next to him. 'Jesse?' I clasped one of his large hands in both of mine. 'Please, tell me what's going on…'_

_Haunted pools of dark brown rose to gaze up at my own troubled emerald eyes. 'Susannah,' Jesse seemed breathless, 'you can't leave…' My own breath caught when I saw more tears spill from his eyes…_/

I blinked hazily as the bell rang. Damn, late again. I really should start catching up on all that sleep I've been missing.

Just as I was reaching my classroom, I saw Sister Ernestine rounding the corner. I froze and pinned myself up against the wall praying that she wouldn't see me. Yea, as if I would just disappear into the wall. Real smart Simon. I swear this Jesse thing was really messing with me. Suddenly, as if someone had heard my prayer, Sister Ernestine turned around and started yelling at some sophomore. I breathed a sigh of relief. Ha! She hadn't seen me. I slyly slipped into my homeroom, snuck into my seat, and began rejoic--

'Susannah Simon!' Blast, foiled again! 'Your presence is requested by Father Dominic in the Guidance office.' VICTORY IS MINE! No late slips and a ticket out of class.

Y'know, you've gotta love Father D. I swear it's like he knows that I need to talk to him.

Feeling eyes staring at the back of my head, I turned around to CeeCee's questioning gaze. I plastered an innocent smile on my face and winked. An, "I'll explain later," look.

She smiled while Adam managed to paint the most puzzled face I've ever seen.

Ha, a new record.

Oops, it seemed Sister Ernestine was getting impatient. She was tapping her heel and everything. You know...that loud nunny high-heel tap...Have I ever mentioned that Catholic school is way over-rated? Those nuns can be scary...

Anyways!

I smiled brightly as I passed her.

Okay, so it was more of a taunting gesture than a polite smile. A, "Ha, you can't get me in trouble!" smirk.

I casually strolled down to the office, smiled at the secretaries and looked over at Father Dominic's office door which, as always, was in his warm, welcoming way...

...Closed?

That's odd. Must have slipped his mind as he walked in.

Well, I guess I'll just knock...

After all, I needed Father Dom's help with the whole Jesse situation. And if he was having an important conversation or something with another student and I just came barging in, he might get mad at me and not listen to anything I have to say.

Not that a PRIEST such as Father Dominic would ever blow off a student in need...

I mean, the horror.

I froze, my hand a nanometer away from the wood (err, veneer) of his office door. It seemed that Father D was indeed involved in what seemed to be a serious conversation.

Uh-oh. Someone must be in trouble...I turned back around. Not really polite to just interrupt something like that. Like I said, it sounded like serious stuff, and I'm not that rude.

I looked around me for some...guidance, but both secretaries had gone MIA.

Hooray for the empty chair next to Father D's office! ...Yay...

I'm almost positive I've mentioned that I'm impatient...But still, that's no excuse to go busting down doors like some...Ghostbuster or something. Although, if you think about it, that's kind of what I am, y'know? I mean, sure, I'm missing the pint-sized nuclear reactor strapped to my back. Oh, and those...lovely gray overalls.

I'm glad I'm not really a Ghostbuster.

Oh Jeez, I should never be left to my own thoughts for this long...

Bored, I looked around the office. It was kind of...colorful in here...I mean, wow. It's almost too bright. I mean, sure, it's nice to have little paintings and whatnot on the walls to attract the little ones and not scare them off from the terribly plain and awful guidance office of infinite boredom...

But they just went a little overboard. Now they've managed to scare off the older students. I mean really...that yellow is burning off my retinas. I'm going blind I tell you...BLIND!

Okay people, cut me some slack. I'm trying to keep myself from eavesdropping. It's a bad habit that I've been trying to break. And right now, it's a more than tempting idea. It's all ajar and non-soundproof and...It's just begging for me to drop some eaves!

Whoa. Back up there, Samwise... "drop some eaves," ? I swear, I'm losing it. Way too much Lord of the Rings...

WAIT A SECOND!

PAUSE! and REWIND! Not eavesdropping seemed like a good idea till I heard my name. Who in the world was Father D talking to about ME? Sweet, innocent, little old me?

Now I was standing with my ear practically shoved against the door. If the conversation was about me, then I have every right to listen.

That's my logic anyway; it makes sense to me.

Maybe it was one of the dwarves...Maybe I should be in the room too. Maybe something happened to mom or Andy!

Suddenly, I started getting nervous. Until I heard a certain someone's voice.

An unmistakable voice...

Jesse's voice.

'I...Father, I can't seem to piece together the meaning, though it seems so clear...I should understand, I know that I should. But I can not...'

...Looks like Jesse got a head start. No wonder Father Dom called me down before I got a chance to get to him.

'Perhaps, Jesse, you are too close to the situation. Maybe you should try, hard as it may seem, to detach yourself from it.'

'How can I do something like that when this is so close to my heart? _Nombre de dios_, Father, she is my life, the air around me! She sustains me.

'...I mean, I can finally be together with Susannah, really be together, and now I'm so afraid I'm going to lose her...' He sounded, dead. Void of life; that was the only way I could describe it.

'I can't lose her.'

My hand clutched the doorknob tightly as my heart constricted in my chest. Well, this was a side of Jesse that I have never seen before…I don't know what to do. Should I just walk in and risk Jesse and Father Dom clamming up to "protect" me? Or should I sit out here and listen, viewing this as an opportunity to finally find out what's been up with Jesse?

Father D's voice seemed to answer my question for me. 'Jesse, does Susannah know about any of this?' I heard Father D sigh; Jesse must have given some sort of silent reply. 'Well then, maybe it's best that we keep it that way for now...'

'But Fath-'

'No, Jesse, hear me out on this. You know how Susannah can get. She will undoubtedly try to figure everything out for herself and - if indeed this dream means what you fear it means - she could get seriously injured.'

I was seething in silent fury. I couldn't believe the pair of them! And if he seriously had no intention of telling me what was going on, then what was the point of calling me out of class in the first place?

'Alright, Jesse. Let's go through this again. Explain the dream to me one more time.'

'Very well,' Jesse sounded reluctant. 'When it begins, Susannah and I are walking along a dark road, lit only by the moon, on a clear night. There is not a star in the sky. We walk back to her house and go up to her room. We sit down on her bed together as I hold her in my arms.'

I blushed. I cannot believe he just said that to Father Dom.

'All of a sudden, there is a terrible shrieking noise and the roof of the house tears off, revealing the night sky. But it is different now. Three bright stars light up the entire sky. But they are no normal stars. They are blood red, and each one is ringed by a circle of white fire. Unexpectedly, I felt Susannah leave my arms. When I look back down to assure myself that she is alright, she is missing. I search the entire house, but I cannot find her anywhere...' Jesse stopped suddenly.

The insanely loud ticking of the clock was the only sound in the room.

Father Dom broke the silence, 'Jesse, I know this is difficult but--' He broke off, 'How are you so sure that this means something terrible is going to happen to Susannah?'

Somehow, that seemed like a more appropriate question. I mean, nothing sounded all that bad. Not yet, anyway.

'I ended up running into an abandoned building to find her lying on the floor. Her blood...her blood is everywhere. All over her. All over me..._Dios_, I'm covered in her blood...' I could practically see him running a hand through his hair, 'I fall to my knees next to her and when she reaches out to grab me, her hand slips right through me, as if I were a ghost again. Except...this time she can't touch me. She is dying in my arms. Then she fades away completely, but her blood remains. Deep, dark marks that stain the walls and floor. I can hear her calling out my name, but I cannot do anything to help her.

'I can't reach her...'

'And last night?'

'We saw the same three stars on the beach last night.'

That was the last thing I heard, because, suddenly, someone was grabbing me by my wrist and pulling me from the guidance office. I was totally clueless as to what was happening. I tried to protest but for some reason my mouth wouldn't form coherent words.

'Stop it! Let me go! I need to hear the rest of that conversation!' Oops. Was that me? Oh jeez, I'm in trouble now...

'Suze, be quiet.'

Well THAT'S rude!

I opened my mouth to speak those very words, but before they had a chance to even leave my mouth, a hand clamped over it. A warm hand. A very soft, warm hand... A very soft, warm, clammy hand...

Ew...

I jerked away and found a pair of tender, blue eyes focusing on my face... Paul's eyes.

...Wait a minute...

Paul's eyes aren't supposed to be tender. They're supposed to be...

Icy. Yeah, that's the word; icy.

Y'know: cold, heartless, unfeeling, stony eyes.

Oh yea - that's right - Paul was "reformed".

Okay...THAT rolls right off the tongue.

Paul smiled at me teasingly, 'Jeez, you'd think that I was raping you or something.'

Ha! Wouldn't be the first time! 'Paul, as much as I'd love to sit idly by and chat with you, I'm afraid that - WHOOPS - there's a conversación muy importante that I'm missing right now. So, adios amigo.'

Paul started laughing at me. 'Attempting to learn Spanish?'

Blushing, I commented sarcastically, 'My, aren't you ever the observant one?' I started to spin around in order to walk back toward the guidance office but Paul's hand clamping down on my shoulder stopped me. I sighed 'Paul, can you make this quick? I really have to get back to the guidance office…' Suddenly, I felt completely drained. I wonder if this is how Jesse feels…

Paul's teasing smile dropped from his face, 'I saw Rico--' I shot him a nasty look. He swallowed, '--Jesse walk in. He didn't look too good. When I saw him meeting with Dominic I figured something must be up. So, I went to Dom's secretary and told her the he had asked me to tell her to call you down. I thought that you might want to know that de Silva was here…'

I felt a sudden rush of gratitude toward Paul. Then the guilt kicked in. 'Thanks. Sorry that I snapped. But how's this any of your business?' I raised an eyebrow.

'Oh come on, Suze.' Paul remarked smugly, 'Since when aren't you my business?'

I couldn't help myself; I laughed, 'Cute.'

'So when are you going to tell me what's going on?'

I sighed. 'I'm not.'

Paul's eyes flashed. 'You still don't trust me?' It was a statement more than a question. 'God Suze, how many times do I have to say that I'm sorry? That I was wrong? I don't know what else I have to do to get you to believe me!'

I blinked. What the hell just happened? 'What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with trusting you…it's just that I don't know what's going on.'

He sounded skeptical, 'Yea, right.'

I laughed, 'Wow, hypocrite, talk about trusting each other! I'm serious Paul. I really have no idea what's going on. I wish I did, but no one wants to include me in on the conversation.'

The frustration in my voice must have convinced him. 'Sorry.' He practically grumbled it under his breath.

'I'm sorry, I couldn't really catch that. Could you maybe say it louder?'

He grinned, 'Shut up, Suze.'

Right then a teacher decided to pop his head out of a nearby classroom. 'Hey, do you kids realize that there are actually classes going on right now? At this exact moment?' I blinked. He smiled at me. 'Yea, that's shocking isn't it? I mean, who would have the gall to teach a class at school? Speaking of which, shouldn't you two actually be in class right now?'

Thank god for Paul, because at the moment I was completely dumbfounded. I kept thinking, "Gotta love a teacher with a good sense of humor!"

'Actually, we're waiting for Father Dominic to call us into his office.'

The teacher nodded. 'And why are you not waiting inside the guidance office?'

'Because! The secretaries kicked us out in order to perform an important…umm…' Way to go Suze!

'Private phone call.' Paul drawled out lazily.

'Yea! A phone call, that's what I meant.' I added lamely. I'm just batting a thousand today aren't I.

I saw Paul give me a strange look as the teacher nodded. 'Well, due to the length of your conversation, I'm almost positive that this "private phone call" has ended. Why don't the two of you scurry back into the guidance office now?'

He knew that we were lying; that much was obvious. But, for whatever reason, he was letting us off the hook. I nodded gratefully. 'Sure thing, sorry for disturbing your class.'

He smiled kindly. 'Me? Oh, I don't have a class right now. This is my period off. Have a good day!' He disappeared behind the classroom door.

'Well, he was weird.'

'Weird?' I looked at Paul in disbelief. 'He could have totally busted our asses, but he didn't. He didn't even ask to see a pass…I call that nice, not weird.'

Paul shrugged. 'He probably saw how pathetic you sounded. What was up with that anyway?'

That made me angry. 'Jesse is in Father D's office right now talking about how I'm apparently supposed to die and neither of them seemed to think that it's important enough to tell me about it! Excuse me for letting that UPSET me!'

I was losing it. I could totally tell. My voice started to raise an octave and my blood started roaring in my ears. I forced myself to calm down. 'You know what? This is none of your business. Thanks for the help Paul. I really appreciate it, I swear. Now, I'm going to head back to the guidance office, that is, if you don't mind.'

For the second time I turned around to walk away, and for the second time his hand reached out to stop me. 'What if I do mind? What if I want you to tell me right now what's going on?' He snapped through gritted teeth.

I wrenched my shoulder away from him. 'I told you that I don't know.'

He stepped away from me, blue eyes flashing. I sighed, suddenly drained again. 'Lets just get back to the office, okay?'

He nodded and slipped his hands into his pockets, brushing past me.

I sped up in order to keep up with his long strides. 'I'm sorry I snapped, okay? I'm just frustrated.'

'Whatever.'

'Oh, stop sulking, I'm trying to apologize.'

'Okay.'

'Paul…' He shot me a sideways glance, his eyebrow raised expectantly. 'Ugh, I don't even know why I'm trying. I'm not about to start begging for forgiveness. If you want to be angry. Fine, be angry. See if I care.'

Paul smiled. 'Oh come on Suze, you know you care.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Yea, Paul. Sure.' I brushed past him to enter the guidance office first. He was so infuriating!

I absently noticed that the secretaries were still gone.

'You know you love me.' Paul was laughing by now. I turned around to face him.

'Yea Paul. How could I not love such a giant pain in my as--'

'Susannah.' I froze. The look on Paul's face was priceless. I would have laughed had the situation called for it.

Slowly turning around, I plastered the most sincere smile that I could manage onto my face. 'Hey Father D. How's life been treating you?' When I was fully turned I was face to face with Jesse. I felt his eyes boring into mine. 'Jesse? What are you doing here?' Somehow, I managed to sound innocent.

Jesse started to reply but Father Dom cut him off. 'Why aren't you in first period Susannah? Paul? What are you two doing down here?' His voice was kind but his baby blues were blazing.

Before Paul had a chance to even think up a reply I bit out, 'Oh you know me Father D. Always out looking for trouble; thinking that I can handle everything on my own.' I felt Paul elbow me from behind. 'I'm talking about my financial aid paperwork of course. I came down here to get it because I figured that I didn't need to wait for you to help me with it. I can figure it out all by myself. Just like everything else. But, funny thing really, I never got to pick up the papers because, wouldn't you know, when I got here all the secretaries had mysteriously vanished.

Now it was all over, I was totally in babble mode…

'Oh and Paul here just seemed to lurk in the shadows. He came outta nowhere I tell ya. You know him, too, of course. Always hiding, out to take whatever he can get his greedy little hands on...' I was of course referring to the Gutierrez's money. Obviously, I was going a little crazy; I knew what Paul had done with that money, but I kept going anyway.

'What?' Paul stuttered over his words stupidly.

'See, Father Dom? Even he sees that it's useless to try and convince you otherwise. We all know that Paul is always up to no good…Probably cutting class. You should assign him a detention.'

I knew that I was being an immature brat, but, to tell you the truth, I really didn't care.

The room had become strangely quiet. I guess I had that effect on people. Jesse's eyes were fixed on mine. He looked angry. Well, that goes for the two of us. Father D just seemed clueless. Served him right.

Finally, Paul broke the silence, 'Okay then. I'm heading back to class…' Next thing I knew, he was extremely close to me, whispering urgently into my ear. 'Please, meet me after school, we really need to talk.'

No shit.

Then he kissed me lightly on the cheek. His lips were soft as they brushed against my skin. Heat flooded my face.

His lips felt amazingly cool against my extremely flushed face. My entire body seemed to tense and relax at the exact same time. What the hell was he doing?

I wanted to turn around and grab him; shake him and ask him, why? Why did he have to pick right now to pull off one of his bold stunts?

I really wanted to believe that he had changed – that we could somehow be friends. But suddenly, I believed that all of his sincerity had been a lie. Worse even; a giant, fat lie.

And in front of Father Dom? How crude.

Okay people, maybe I'm over reacting. I mean, it was just a kiss on the cheek, right?

Jesse started to open his mouth to say something but Father D placed a hand on his shoulder as if to stop him.

'Susannah, could I see you in my office for a moment?'

Me? What did I do? He kissed ME! Not the other way around!

But I didn't say that. No, instead I intelligently replied, "Uh - um, but…' I told you it was intelligent.

'Now, please.' A frustrated Father Dom. That was new.

Paul pulled away from me. I turned around and shot him a dirty look. He just smiled innocently. 'I'll see you later.' Then he turned and walked out of the office.

Like hell he'll see me later.

Sighing, I whipped back around to see Jesse standing right in front of me. 'Susannah, what is going on?_'_

Gee, that's what I'd like to know. Before I had a chance to say just that, Father D stepped in-between us. 'Jesse, you should leave now. We'll have a chance to talk again later.'

Jesse nodded, still staring at me. 'Yes, Father.'

'Susannah.' I blinked. Father D was suddenly standing in front of me me, blocking my view of Jesse, 'My office.'

'Sure.' I brushed past him and Jesse and went into his office. I felt Jesse staring at me, but I did not turn to look back.

Cut me some slack, I was peeved. Besides, it wasn't like I wouldn't have a chance to talk to him later.

Father Dom walked in and shut the door behind him. The sound of the door slamming made me jump.

'Susannah, what's going on between you and Paul?'

Gee, he sure didn't beat around the bush.

'Me and Paul? Father D, you're kidding right? Nothing is going on between us.' This is ridiculous. He kissed me! It's not like I returned the favor!

'I know that this may be hard to believe, but I AM in love with Jesse.' I responded sarcastically.

Father Dom sighed. 'No Susannah, you are misunderstanding my question. I meant, what are you two up to? Why were you really in the guidance office?'

I blanched. Oh, _that's _what he meant. How convenient. 'Um—'

'The truth, Susannah.'

'Right, the truth. Well—' I couldn't think up anything _besides _the truth, so I

decided to give in. 'Paul was down here when he saw Jesse coming in to talk to you. He figured that it was something important, so he had your secretary call me down.'

I realized a second too late that I might have gotten Paul into trouble. 'It wasn't Paul's fault. He was just looking out for me.'

Father Dom nodded absently, sitting down heavily in his office chair.

Oh my god. I just defended Paul. If it ever got back to him, he'd never let it go.

'What did you hear?'

I looked up at Father Dom questioningly. 'Excuse me?' I was genuinely baffled.

Father Dom's light blue eyes were blazing again, but not, I noticed, with anger. With something else. 'Jesse and my conversation. How much of it did you hear?'

I blinked. 'Not enough to really understand what's going on.'

Don't ask me why I practically admitted to hearing everything. It just sorta spilled out.

He nodded. 'You should get back to class.'

'Okay.' I stood up and headed toward the door.

Just as I was about to leave, Father Dom stopped me. 'Susannah?'

I turned around to face him. 'Yea?'

He seemed to be fascinated with a piece of paper on his desk. 'Don't bug Jesse about this, and just-' He paused, and focused his bright eyes on me. 'Be careful.'

I was taken aback for a moment before I managed to pull it together and flash him a bright smile. 'C'mon Father D. You know that I can take care of myself.' Then I walked out of the room.

As I closed the door behind me, I swore that I heard his voice whisper, 'That is what I'm afraid of,' but I dismissed the thought as my overactive imagination.

I saw that the secretaries had managed to find their way back from wherever they had disappeared to. I also saw that Jesse was gone.

He didn't even wait to say goodbye. Coward.

After that, the school day just seemed to fly by. All of my teachers had found it necessary to give us tons of homework, and I had missed lunch because I had gone to the library to research stars.

Nothing, surprisingly, had managed to catch my attention.

So, on top of being tired, I was hungry. But I guess that was my own fault. I hadn't even had a chance to catch up with CeeCee and Adam. But in a way, I was glad about that. Lord knows that they enjoyed their alone time.

That afternoon, I was walking out to Dopey's car when Paul stopped me. He looked smug. 'Hey, Suze. Where are you headed?'

'Um, home? Y'know, the place where I live?' I continued to walk past him. That is, until he grabbed my arm.

'I thought that we were going to talk.'

'No, you _assumed_ that we were going to talk. But, funny thing really, I don't ever remember agreeing to that.' I yanked my arm away from him for the third time that day. 'And stop touching me.'

Paul frowned. 'Oh give me a break Suze. You know that we need to talk.'

I saw that Brad was busy talking to Debbie, so I figured that I had time.

'No, I don't know that. Actually, I have no idea what we could possibly talk about, considering, as I've already told you, that I have no idea what's going on.'

Paul glared at me, 'Why are you so stubborn?'

'I don't know. Maybe I'll be able to tell you when you tell me why you're so pigheaded and obnoxious.' I flipped my hair over my shoulder and started to walk away again.

Was it just me, or do I seem to have a temper problem today?

Paul stepped in front of me. 'Will you at least let me give you a lift home?'

Jeez, this kid will never give up. 'No.'

'Suze! Come on! If you don't get in the car right now, I'm leaving!' Ah, seems as if Dopey was finished talking to Sleazy.

I smirked, 'Gotta run!' Pushing past him I headed toward the car again.

'Suze, will you just wait!' I ignored him and jumped into the front seat.

Paul stared at me for a moment before he finally turned and walked away.

'What's up with the two of you, anyway? I thought that you had a boyfriend. Are you cheating on him?'

I looked over at Dopey. 'Ugh, no. Nothing is going on between Paul and me. So, why don't you mind your own business?'

'Fine. Jeez, I was just asking.'

Then it dawned on me. We were missing someone. 'Brad, where's David?'

Dopey grunted, 'He went home with a friend.'

'Do mom and Andy know about this?'

'Yea,' He shot me weird look, 'We talked about it during breakfast, remember?'

Oh. This morning. When I had been completely zoned out. 'Right. I forgot.'

'Are you smoking something?' He sounded so incompetent.

I rolled my eyes. 'No, I'm not.'

The rest of the ride went in on silence. When we got home I immediately clicked off my seatbelt and jumped out of the car.

The second I went into the house, I started to head up the stairs, but Andy stopped me. 'Hey Suze,' Dopey started to brush by me but Andy stopped him too. 'Brad, wait, I need to talk to you too. David is staying over his friend's house tonight, and as you know, Jake is out of town. Now, something came up and your mother and I have to go out of town for just one night. We'll be back early tomorrow…'

My head was starting to pound, 'Is everything okay?'

Andy smiled brightly, 'Yea, it's just that I've got a huge contracting meeting out of town, and your mom wants to tag along.'

Okay, I didn't want to give it that much thought.

'Now listen to me, Brad. Absolutely _no one_ is allowed to come over tonight, do you understand me?'

At this point I had stopped listening because someone else had caught my attention.

A little girl dressed in a long white gown was standing next to Andy. Her large brown eyes were overflowing with tears as she tried to grasp Andy's hand, but couldn't. Then she proceeded to plop on the floor and sob. Very loudly.

I felt my heart skip a beat. I really felt sorry for her. She was so young; no more than eight. It wasn't very often that I encountered little kids, but whenever I did, I couldn't help but think about the injustice of it all.

'Suze? Did you hear me?' I blinked a few times to clear my head. Brad was staring at me like I was crazy. Andy was just smiling and waiting patiently for a response.

I shook my head. It was hard to hear over her sobbing, but I tried to keep my voice at a normal tone. 'No, I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?'

Andy's smile brightened. 'I said that I'm leaving 50 dollars by the phone so you two can order dinner and have some money just in case anything happens. Also, the hotel number is there too just in case you can't reach our cells.'

I nodded. 'Okay.' The little girl had calmed down but was still sitting on the floor, now hugging her knees.

I slowly started walking back down the stairs when the little girl suddenly dematerialized.

_Damn. _

Sighing, I trudged into the kitchen to grab a diet coke. I was kind of shocked. After all, it had been almost a full week since I'd last had a run in with the dead. I couldn't help but smile as I thought that Jesse probably had something to do with that. Keeping the dead away from me, I mean. I think he wanted to help me feel like a normal 17 yr old.

Too bad he didn't realize that just being with him made me feel the best I'd ever felt. Then again, maybe he did.

Andy was staring at me. 'Are you feeling okay Suze? I can tell your mom to stay if that'll make you feel better.'

I laughed slightly. 'Yea, I'm fine. I've just had a rough day. I don't care if Mom goes.

He looked skeptical. 'Really?'

'Yea! I promise. Thanks though.' It was sweet, really. As weird as it was to adjust to my new 'family', I was happy that my mom had found someone sweet that could keep her truly happy. And his food was totally worth the hassle dealing with stepbrothers!

I walked up to my room and shut the door behind me. I dumped my book bag next to my vanity and fell onto my bed face first. I really needed to talk to Jesse. I needed to know what's going on.

God, I needed the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with to freakin' _trust_ me!

I know. I'm being dramatic. Sue me.

I groaned in frustration, and flipped onto my back. That's when I heard it. Crying. I shot up quickly and looked around. There she was, sitting on the window seat, crying.

I felt my heart break again. She made such a heart wrenching picture. I stood up and kneeled in front of her, resting my hands on either side of the seat. That got her attention as she stopped crying to stare at me. Surprise fled across her very young features. 'Can, can you see me?'

I nodded. 'Yea, I can. Hi, my name is Suze, what's your name?' Normally, I wasn't so friendly, but she was just a little girl. Probably scared out of her mind.

Sobbing, she threw herself into me, wrapping her tiny arms around my neck and burying her face into my shoulder. I stiffened immediately.

I do _not_ like ghosts touching me.

'I d-don't k-know what t-to do!' She wailed, 'N-no one c-can help m-me!'

I bit my lip and patted her sort of awkwardly on her back. 'Um…It's okay now. I can help you.'

'D-daddy always t-told me t-to try and be b-brave, a-and I'm t-trying, b-but it's s-so hard b-because I-I'm all a-alone.' She started crying harder, which made the situation a lot more awkward.

I used this as the perfect opportunity to pull away from her. She seemed reluctant to let go, but did. I sat back on my heels and stared at her. 'Why don't you tell me what happened?'

She blinked the tears away from her eyes and swallowed hard. 'They won't stop h-hurting me'

I was taken aback. Hurting her? Someone was hurting her? 'How? Who's hurting you and how?

'T-those mean men who hate d-daddy.' She sniffed.

For an eight year old, she was very well spoken. 'Are they hurting you right now?'

Her eye's roamed around my room, as if making sure that no one else was there besides us. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper, 'Yes. They never stop.'

Stunned, I decided, for the moment, to change the topic. 'Why don't you tell me your name?'

She blinked her large, haunted brown eyes at me. 'S-Stephanie.'

I was trying to think of the best way to handle her. 'Alright Stephanie, can you tell me if you can see your daddy? Can he see you?'

She shook her head violently, her shoulder length hair whipping her cheeks. 'They, t-they did something to him.'

I took a deep breath. 'Can you tell me if these men are…alive?'

She shook her head, 'They gots killed. B-but they aren't down there like they are supposed to be.' As she said this she pointed to my floor.

'Down there?' I glanced at my floor, perplexed.

'Before mommy went to heaven she told me that all bad people go down there.'

Oh. Down _there_, if there is such a place.

I continued to chew on my lower lip. 'How do they hurt you…?' Oops, bad choice. Stephanie started to sob uncontrollable again.

'N-no, I c-can't tell a-anyone. T-they'll hurt me a-again if t-they find out!'

'Okay, okay! You don't have to tell me! Everything will be okay!' I tried to calm her down, but nothing seemed to be working. 'Stephanie, please.'

'N-no! I can't…' Her voice dropped to a whisper as she started to dematerialize.

'Wait!' But I was too late, and with a flash, she was gone.

* * *

Ohmigod! I am so incredibly sorry. I swear to god, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I just had a lot of personal stuff happening all at once. No chapter will ever take that long, ever again! I swear it.

Anyway, I hope you all like it! As usual, comments are always welcome, and highly appreciated. Also, constructive criticism and ideas are greatly valued.

_**To the Reviewers:**_

**Lolly Pop Ali** : Thank you so much! I am so honored that you were my first review .! Thanks for the advice, I'm trying really hard to pay attention and fix the teeny and irrelevant things. Obsessing over it more like, but you get my point I'm sure!  
Moving along, your opinion meant a lot, so thanks again. Keep up the AMAZING work!

_If you haven't read her stories, I highly advise you go check them out…now_. ;D

**Poison-Tearsxo/Missy Mee** : Everything will come together, soon. I don't really know if these were pleased comments or not, so, I hope you're enjoying the story thus far, and if not, maybe you could tell me where it's lacking? You can email me anytime, or just leave another comment. Up to you! Thanks all the same!

**Susie Madison **: Thanks! Your comment really made me feel good! I'm so sorry about the long wait, but I hope this chapter was to your liking. The third chapter will be out in no time, promise!

**Frolicking Bananas **: Hopefully, this chapter was slightly less confusing, and answered some of your questions. I know almost exactly where I want the story to go, but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to lay down the plot. Hope, that you're still interested, lol. Thank you!

**Awakened Dreams** : Lol, thanks. I like it too; the point was to get people confused and hooked. Again, sorry for the wait! It'll never happen again! I swear!...Well unless I suddenly disappear, then, I suppose it'll happen again. But, that's very unlikely… . … . ….Lol

**Psi-ko **: Thanks! I'm going to try really hard, I promise…but sometimes, the characters just take on minds of their own ..

**Mochaluvinmarie…** : Wow, thanks for the inspiration! Hope that this chapter made more sense. If it didn't however, the next chapter should.

**EvincarofJustice**: No comment… ;P :grumble: Love you too…

**Trisisabel**: Thank you! Hope you liked this chapter! The next will take nowhere near as long as this one did!

**Plutobaby494**: Wow, I've had so many uplifting reviews, and yours is definitely one of them. Yea, I actually wanted to go for something completely different. So, I'm hoping that I'm succeeding. The third chapter will be out a lot sooner. Thanks again.

**Szabatka2**: I hope that it was weird in a good way, lol. Sorry for such the long update. This chapter, for the most part, should have answered the question of what happened to Jesse. I promise though, everything will come together, and soon. Thanks a ton for the review.

Hope everyone enjoyed! Please continue to comment, it actually speeds up the process!

Love Nikki.


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